We have been living in mainland Europe for 6 months now. My parents live here and I have always wanted to move back here (I am British, my parents moved here when I went to uni so I have spent extended periods of time living and working here previously), DH agreed that he thought it would be better lifestyle change for all of us and we bought a house back in 2016, but only made the move in December of 2017.
Our children have settled really well, the eldest vocalises how much he prefers it here frequently. I love it here, the culture, the lifestyle and my job.
DH is self-employed but basically just pays in to the system at the moment to keep him in the healthcare system, and is focused on renovating our property. After that he will work in the trade he is qualified in.
The house is a bone of contention. Once again I love it BUT it has turned out to be more work than we thought. As is the case with many renovation projects. We have the money to do it but it will leave us with less in the pot obviously.
I speak the language, the children are picking it up quickly and my husband doesn´t speak the language but was going to lessons. However he packed them in as he said it was moving too quickly for him to learn anything.
Recently DH has repeatedly brought up the fact that we will never earn the same amount as we did back in the UK. This is true, but when we were planning the move this was taken in to consideration. Cost of living here is much lower and we do not have a mortgage. This now seems to be another bone of contention. He has said in anger that the house was a mistake and we should have waited until we were here to buy something. I acknowledged that this is true, however we didn´t do this so I don´t see any point in dwelling on it.
I think to cut a long story short, he wants to go back to what he knows (and allegedly hated) and the comfort of the UK. He wants to renovate the house to a decent level and sell it. He keeps saying I wouldn´t have to work back in the UK (true), but I don´t want to be a SAHM especially when the kids are at school now. I did that when they were younger and I have really enjoyed working again, even if I am slightly further down the career ladder than I was in the UK pre-children.
Has anyone ever experienced something similar? Did your DP settle?
We haven´t even lived in our house over here yet and already this flares up weekly!
I swing from thinking I am selfish to looking at houses and jobs back in the UK!